Control-lever silencer



March 18 1924.

I V. J. HARRIS CONTROL LEVER SILENQER Filed March 24. 1921 INVEN TOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented lifter. it lilzi VERNON J. HARE-IS, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

CONTROL-LEVER SILENCER.

Application filedlfi'arch 24, 1321. Serial No. 455,354.

To all whom it may 0071mm:

lie it known that l, VsRNoN J. l-lnnnrs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of l i ayne, State of Michigun, have invented a certain new ano useful Improvement in Control-Lever Silencers, .and declare the :iollowing. to he a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this speci-- iication.

My invention relates to silencing mechanism adapted to prevent rattle and wobble of the gear shift lever in automobile gear sets where the lever mounting is of the type here shown.

As a matter of nomenclature in the present application, I prefer to call the gear shifting lever the hand control leverdand the housing which forms a hall seat fulcruni therefor, the hand control lever housing.

In the type of hand control levers, in connection with which my device is adapted to be used, the control lever is fulcrumed in a ball seat and more or less play is provided as there must he suficient clearance to permit freedom of movement of the control lever in shifting the gears from one speed to another. This looseness of mounting and permitted clearance produces an almost continuous woblole or vibration of the control lever and consequent rattle when the car is being driven. This rattle is ac centuated when the car is driven at high speed and over an uneven roadway. As the average driver will run a car the greater part of the time in high speed, l provide means adapted to engage the hand control lever when in high speed only, in such a manner as to prevent wobble of the lover.

The object of my invention is to provide a spring bearing member adapted to engage the power arm of the hand control. lever, when said lever is shifted into high speed position, in such a manner as to exert yielding side thrustthereon, tending to exert, in connection with the fulcrum hearing and the bearing exerted on the work arm by the partition of the gearset gateway, a three-point bearing on said lever, effectively preventing the wobble and reducing to a minimum the vibration thereof during the time it is in high speed position.

These and other objects of the invention, together with. details of construction, will more fully appear from the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is vertical section thru the housing showing the control lever in elevation.

Fig. 2 member.

Fig. 3 is a ig. 2.

0 her devices intended to accomplish the same purpose have been previously pro vided, for example, a crevice adapted to exert upward, yielding pressure on said control lever tending to hold it securely in its provided hall seat. This device,h0wever, is operative at all times while my device is merely operative when the lever is in high speed position, and in other speeds it is possible to rovide for full freedom of movement and sufficient clearance to facilitate' easy shifting of the lever.

In the drawings, let a indicate the hand control lever; b the hand control lever housing which is so shaped as at 0 to form the lower portion of a ball seat fulcrum hearing for the ball a of the hand lever. In conventional construction to-day, there would he provided a hand control lever hall collar secured to the upper surface of the hand control lever housing, and which would surround said lever holding the same in position. I prefer, however, to remove this collar and adapt my spring bearing member so to serve the additional purpose thereof. it is apparent, however, that the collar might be'left in position and my spring bearing member secured thereabove.

I provide a spring hearing member which comprises a collar plate at and an upwardlyextending hearing member 0. The collar plate (5 is adapted to'encircle the control lever and is flared as at d around the edge of the central opening thru the plate, so as to form the upper portion of the ball seat. This collar plate is adapted to be secured to the control lever housing by screws, or other similar means, passing thru the openings W hen the collar plate is in position it prois a plan or my spring hearing section on the line 33 of vides a ball seat fulcrum for the control le-' ver in connection with the control lever housing.

At the lower end of the work arm the control lever is provided with a bearing member 6. 7

fully into high speed positionit will also adapted to engage gear shifter shafts to shift said shafts, shifting the change speed gears as may be desired. There is provided a fixed partition member g, which forms bearing on the side of the control lever o posite the side which engages with the'shifter shaft, so as to maintain such engagei'nent. The shifter shafts shown in Fig. 1 are indicated as h and 2'. Let h indicate the high speedshaft.

lhe spring bearing member 6 is bent slightly inwardly and is so positioned that when the hand control lever is shifted into high-speed position, the lever is engaged by the'bearing member, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This bearing member is slightly curved so that the control lever will move easily back into position and the bearing member will slightly embrace said control lever so as to retain its engagementtherewith. The action of the s' ring bearing members is of such a character as to exert a yielding side thruston the control lever tending to move the same about its fulcrum point as a pivot and'serve to hold the'lower end of the work arm'of said lever towards the partition 9 in the gearset; gateway. A three point bearing is'therefore exerted on the control lever in such a manner-as to'prevent wobble of the lever when in high speed position. 1

Thisupwardly extending spring member 6 1s likewlsesopositionedthat the control lever will engage the shifter shaft'andmove the same sufficiently for the lower end of the lever to have been engaged by the fixed partition member g before the power arm of the lever is engaged by the spring bearing As the control lever is mover move intothe position relative thebearing memberc as shownin Fig. 2 of the drawing.

7 In the operation of this device it will therefore be seen that whenever the control lever isnioved into high speed position a side pressure will be exerted thereon tending to prevent its wobble or movement aboutits fulcrum point. 7

What I claim is 1. In a motor vehicle, in combination, a

gear control lever, a fulcrum' change speed supporting saidTleverintermediate the ends vibration thereof when the lever o J'erationsaid ear shift mech control lever and exert side thrust and prevent oscillation thereof'when said thereof for universal movement, change.

speed gear'niechanism so positioned as to be engaged by said lever below said fulcrum,

3. In a gear shiftmechanism, in combination, the hand control lever, the housing in which said control le er is ilcrumed, a spring bearing member extending up rdly from the housing, adapted to yieldingly engage said lever in such a manner as to limit is in highspeed position.

l. In a motor vehicle, in combination with the change speed shift mechanism positioned below the floor of the vehicle, a hand control lever fulcrumed intermediate. its ends, and the work arm of which lever is adapted to engage such gear shift mechanism below the fiOOT' of the vehicle, and

'means for engagingthe power arm of said lever above'the floor of the vehiclewhen the lever is in the high speed position only to limit the vibration thereof. 7

5 In a motor vehicle, in combination with change-speed gearshift mechanism. positioned below the floor of the vehicle, a hand control lever pivoted i mediate its ends for universal movement and extending below the floor of the vehicle to engage for sin, a bearing member entendingupn rom the floor of the vehicle adapted to engage said thereon lever has been moved to a determined gear Shift position.

ti'on. V

VERNON J. HARRIS.

In testimony whereof l'sign this specifica- V 

